Johnny was a Bute

What a fantastic article detailing the career of Johnny Dumfries. He has long fascinated me as he not only raced in the era that I find the most interesting but has the added intrigue of being titled. For me he is exactly the sort of British driver that we never really saw the best of, and your article seems to bear that out. It brings to mind so many people from the late-70s or early-80s who had success in either F3 or F2 who lost their way once promoted to the pinnacle; Formula One — Jonathan Palmer, Dereks Warwick and Daly, Julian Bailey, Geoff Lees, Perry McCarthy, Mark Blundell, Martin Brundle to name but a few. While they have all gone on to record success in various other disciplines of the sport, it can’t help make you wonder quite what went wrong that out of a seemingly endless pool of talent in this era, only Nigel Mansell really recorded high-level results.

I did enjoy Johnny’s remarks about his slight off-track excursion in the Le Mans-winning Jaguar at the Festival of Speed back in 2000. I can confirm, as he says Jan Lammers did too, that this in no way detracted from the crowd’s enjoyment of seeing either him or the car. However, I can also confirm that Johnny was certainly ‘having a good go!’ Not bad for someone who claims not to have an interest in getting back in a racing car.

Nick Bradley, Worthing